Alaine

“ Now, I hate the France that has persecuted you and the Jesuits who would curse you.”
Alaine heard this, then slept, awaking to hear, “The child Alaine must be returned to her friends. I ask that of you, Antoine and Jeanne. I am an old man, and of late I realize that I am not as strong as I used to be. If I am removed I leave her to your sacred charge. She must be taken to one of the English or Dutch settlements in New York. I was God’s instrument to save her from the pit digged for her, and I have guarded her from all the evil that I could. ”

“ Alaine’s youthful appetite sufficed to cause her to consume a good supper. The talk around the table was cheerful, and there were no issues raised. “A strange position for a young French girl,” Alaine thought, “in company of these men, I who all my life have taken refuge by the side of my aunt or Michelle, and have never even taken a walk with any man save Gerard or Papa Louis, unless I except that one Sunday when I walked to church with Pierre as companion. What would my aunt say to my present situation? Allowed free converse with a young man? ”

“ Alaine nodded. “I remember the couplet which Papa Louis taught me,—
‘Plus a me frapper on s’amuse,
Tant plus de marteau on y use.’
But to tell you the truth, Pierre, I am not a patient being. I am full of indignation many times a day, and I wonder if I will ever be called a patient Huguenot. That anvil, it is because of Beza’s words that we have it for an emblem, is it not so? I like better the marigold myself.”
“And I like the anvil,” returned Pierre.
Alaine gave him a half-saucy look from under her long lashes. “Yes, you are more like an anvil,” she told him. ”

“ An’ you answer not these questions you will be sent to Canada, placed in a nunnery there till your cousin Étienne comes to claim you.”
“And if I refuse him.”
“You remain in the nunnery.”
Alaine pondered the situation gravely. “But why? What good are these questions? Alas! why do they distress a forlorn maid so sorely for the sake of such scant information as she can give?”
“Because—it is for France. Do you not love France, Alaine Hervieu, the dear place of your birth?”
She was silent a moment, then she said, slowly, “I love France.” ”

“ Alaine smiled. She feared François no longer. “And all these years you have been living in these woods?” she asked of Jeanne.
“In these woods; they are kinder than cities. [206] One can learn how to face open foes; it is those who approach us as friends that are most to be feared.”
Antoine nodded gravely. Alaine looked at him with some curiosity. Michelle had described him as a handsome young cavalier, gay and full of life; this serious, reticent old man did not answer to her description. ”

“ The poor old one, he has never missed a day in going to the spot where he landed, to turn his eyes toward his beloved France and to lift up his voice in prayer and song. He is smitten with a great home-sickness, is Papa Renaud. But me, I never wish to see France again; it holds too many graves. Ciel! when I think of how many of them, I am affrighted by the number.”
Alaine laid a caressing hand on her shoulder. “I do not wonder, my poor Mathilde; one who alone of all her family is left must feel so. As for me, I know not, and so I still long for France if it contain my father. ”

“ Steep the bandages well, Gerard. Art better, monsieur? There, I think we must keep you very quiet. The other is of no weight. I could lift him myself, but he is the color of wax. He is not fit to die, the miserable, and we must save him for God knows what, yet we cannot let even an enemy go directly to burn in hell, as he surely would.”
The eyes of the sufferer opened slowly; they caught sight of Alaine. “Whither thou goest,” the white lips murmured, and Alaine, bravely as she had endured everything else, now burst into tears, and sobbed inconsolably upon Papa Louis’s shoulder. ”

“ Alaine shivered slightly and leaned back again against the post of the porch. Her father’s life or hers, for one does not have to die to lay down a life for a friend. At last she drew a long breath. “You would take me away alone?” ”

“ Alaine fixed her great eyes on him. Suddenly she dropped her childish coaxing tone. “Are you telling me the truth, Étienne? I am—yes, I am nearly a woman. A girl of fifteen has a right to decide for herself as you say. Tell me, are you merely teasing me, or is this the truth?”
“It is the truth, and at any moment this place may be given over to the dragonnades. Will you stay? If you do not come to us your case will be pitiable, indeed. ”

“ He took her hand, and together they went on into the still forest and with one consent knelt there together.
[345] “The house was too narrow for me,” said Alaine, when they arose and faced each other. “I was too full of thanksgiving to give it utterance there. My Lendert! my Lendert! Are we dead and is this heaven?” She yielded her sweet body to his embrace. So thrilled with happiness she was that it seemed that the world must fade before her blurred vision. ”

“ I do you wrong, I who should cherish you and defend you from unkindness and suspicion. I am to-day, as one would say, at odds with myself. Petite émigrée, pauvrette, fifille, I am a stupide. I ought to have seen why your eyes have all day been triste and your mouth so wistful. It is not the kisses of a husband for which you sigh, but for those of a father. Go, then, star of my life, and I will add my prayers to yours.”
Alaine, overcome at this humility, embraced her and called her dear mamma and her always beloved Michelle, and then she turned to go. ”

“ Watchful men were stationed at the loopholes, a [267] stern and determined look upon each face. Alaine looked around her. Where was Lendert?
“Go, my daughter,” whispered some one at her side. “Your place is not here.”
“I was ordered to remain,” Alaine answered, “and I shall stay. Am I so poor a shot that I must be denied the right to protect myself? Is not this as much my place as yours, Jeanne Crepin?”
Jeanne smiled grimly. “Very well, then we will both remain. We may be privileged to die fighting. Come, we are needed, every man of us.” ”

“ Small evening companies were quite a usual thing among the lively French emigrants, and an excuse to entertain one’s friends was seldom wanting. Alaine had declared that she had no heart to dance, but Mathilde had a fertile brain; there should be something else. She, so deft with brush and needle, would arrange some tableaux. These would help to occupy Alaine and give her something new to think about. She had been under such a nervous strain and needed diversion. Mathilde quite appreciated Michelle’s concern; they must rouse this triste Alaine. ”

“ He went of his own accord, so he told me, and, the good Pierre, he bade me try to comfort you. It may take a long time to effect his purpose. There is no reason for despair as yet. The vessels are slow in going and coming, and who knows what time and caution he must use in seeking your father? Even to-day a message may be on its way to you.”
Alaine plucked up courage, and with better heart went singing to her work. Michelle and Papa Louis were in the fields, and Gerard had just come to the pump to quench his thirst. “Even now he may be on his way to me,” Alaine repeated. ”

“ Black I like not; no, I like them not. I fear it will be, Adieu, Pierre; yet if you bring my father to me I keep my promise, good Pierre. I am very foolish; a maid should not let her fancy rove when her parents have made a choice for her.”
“Alaine, Alaine!” called a voice from the garden.
“Yes, yes, Gerard, I come. Here I am,” she answered.
The young man waiting for Alaine at the edge of the garden was gazing over field and orchard. The young trees but a year ago planted gave promise of thriving well, and of supplying luscious peaches or [125] bouncing apples. ”

“ Have I placed myself first? Listen, Alaine; it is so easy. We arise early; we go forth. I take you to Canada, to the convent. When you are ready we are united. I do not urge it now? [85] I even make this concession: one year and you will marry me. I leave you with the Sisters, and at once I proceed to Guadaloupa, where I win the release of your father. I buy his discharge and I present him to you as my wedding-present. Is it not all so easy? We return to France, to your old home; you leave behind you but a company of poor peasants, and you return to your own.”
“And Étienne?” ”

“ So, then, when our maman became herself again she was still too feeble to do all that she had heretofore, and while she was striving for strength came the letter from François Dupont, which was like a death-knell to our hope of seeing our daughter Alaine again, for not a day but that we had prayed and longed for her return. So, then, we said, she is lost to us forever. Then came the young Dutchman. Ah, said I, when I told him the news, here is one whose grief is as great as ours, and if it should be that Alaine returns, it is he who loves her too well [305] for us to deny her to him. ”

“ Alaine shrank behind Michelle’s broad back, and Gerard, looking rather foolish in his short petticoat, retreated into a corner. Papa Louis opened the door to welcome a neighbor, M. Therolde. Behind him came the stranger whom Alaine had met at the fête. “A little frolic to end the day’s entertainment,” said Papa Louis. “My children are attired for our amusement. You will excuse their costumes, gentlemen. Come forward, Gerard; your petticoats are none too short that they need stand in the way of a greeting to our friends. ”

“ Think of being reunited to your father, when he shall occupy a place [77] of honor in this new country. No longer a peasant, you; no longer associating with servants, but lady of your own manor, an honored wife, a happy daughter. You will do this for France and for your father?” He spoke with rapid intensity, his brilliant black eyes fixed on her face.
Alaine listened with parted lips. “My father!” she cried. “Where is he? Does he live?”
“He lives. I can tell you no more. It is not so much you are asked to do. No one will be the wiser; no one worse off than before.” ”

“ I am like those fish which are one thing up here among the French and another down there with the Dutch. Call me whichever you will, I am to the taste of whoever [223] likes me. I am a man, am I? Then come sit on my knee and be my sweetheart.” And she would seize Alaine bodily, giving her a sounding smack, and jolt her up and down till she begged for mercy.
It was worth while to see this daughter of the woods go stalking off, gun in hand, in the direction of the Indian village, where she was well known and liked for her fearlessness, her kindliness, and her skill. ”

“ To get rid of Marie and to escape,—the thought recurred to Alaine over and over again for the next few days. She had nothing to do but to watch the sea-birds, and, when she was not talking to Father Bisset, the time hung heavily on her hands. The good old man, be it said, had given no cause for suspicion of his being a renegade priest, and, indeed, his lifelong manner of speech and his pious ejaculations were too much a matter of habit to evidence any change in his opinions. ”

“ I saw Michelle and Louis Mercier. They showed me a letter they had received from François Dupont, he who stole their child away; it was written in Canada; it assured them that Alaine was safe, was well and happy; that she was married to him, and that they were about to depart for France. There were messages from Alaine, and it all seemed as if true.”
[255] “That evil-doer,” muttered Jeanne. “It was all a ruse, monsieur, to prevent further action on the part of her friends. I do not know what he hoped to gain by it. Mademoiselle Hervieu left Quebec in the company of my brother six months ago. ”

“ It is best you should keep your hiding-place a secret.” He glanced at Alaine as he spoke.
“It will never be known through me,” she ventured, softly, “for, woman though I am, I can keep a secret. My days have been too full of trouble not to know the feeling of one hunted.” She smiled at the young man, who protested that he had never dreamed of distrusting her.
“So lovely she is I could wish the way longer,” he whispered to his cousin a half-hour later when they set off, Alaine mounted on a pillion behind her cavalier. ”

“ With one stride Lendert reached her where she stood poised upon the door-sill. “Alaine!” he cried. “Oh, thou good God! It is Alaine!” And then Jeanne stepped in between them, but Lendert swept her aside.
“Shame upon you, girl!” The words came from Madam De Vries, who, shaking with anger, saw the [253] two standing as one before her. “Lendert, what does this mean? Girl, go to your room!”
But Lendert held her fast. “It means, madam, that this Alaine Hervieu is the woman to whom before God I have pledged myself. I have vowed to marry no other, and I will not.” ”

“ Meanwhile, Lendert, in an agony of mind over the safety of his mother and of Alaine, stood, gun in hand, ready to defend either or both. Madam De Vries had reined in her horse at Jeanne’s approach, had gathered her little body-guard around her, and as yet was not seen by the attacking party.
Alaine waited quietly till the two men came up. [272] “You have been prisoner here?” cried Ricard. “How happens this? She is of us!” he shouted. “Not a hair of her head must be touched. It is Alaine in petticoats. You remember, Henri, you, Robert, M. Bisset and his companion? ”

“ On the other side of the girl Joachim stationed himself to see her do as good service as any. At last the foe retreated for a brief rest, and Lendert withdrew his gaze from the loophole to see Alaine standing by him. “Here? Why are you not safe in the blockhouse, Alaine?”
[268] “I am of more use here,” she replied, “and I would rather be with Jeanne and—you.” She whispered the last word. “I thought, perhaps God would let us die together, Lendert. That would be a happier fate than if I were taken into captivity. See, the east begins to warm into a rosy color; it will soon be day. ”